Islamist

In response to the Islamic State’s horrific burning of a pilot, the Jordanian government has released from prison one of the most influential al Qaeda-allied ideologues in the world. Sound strange? It is.

And when you get into the specifics, it gets even more bizarre. Indeed, a disturbing pattern of behavior emerges: Al Qaeda, and like-minded jihadists, are triangulating off of the Islamic State’s brutality to present themselves in a respectable, even moderate light.

Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi has been a staunch critic of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s Islamic State (or ISIS/ISIL, as it is commonly known). Maqdisi, like many al Qaeda-allied thinkers, objects to the Islamic State, especially its uncompromising approach to power politics within the jihadist world. But this does not make him the voice of reason. He is openly pro-al Qaeda and a vocal defender of Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s leader.

Jordan thinks that Maqdisi’s release helps matters, however. The day after his release from prison, Maqdisi made a heavily-promoted television appearance in Jordan. Maqdisi, who says he attempted to negotiate on behalf of the pilot from inside prison, told the television audience that the Islamic State’s decision to torch the pilot is "not acceptable in any religion."

There was so much buzz surrounding Maqdisi’s appearance that even the State Department tweeted a link to the Associated Press’s coverage. On its anti-extremist “Think Again Turn Away” Twitter feed, a State Department employee wrote:

Jordan evidently thinks Maqdisi’s release is a Machiavellian move. But it is al Qaeda that is gaming the situation. Maqdisi’s criticisms of the Islamic State are unlikely to do further damage to the group’s currently tarnished brand among the Jordanian populace. Jordan’s decision to embrace Maqdisi, even temporarily, only makes al Qaeda’s ideology look somewhat more reasonable.

Maqdisi and other al Qaeda ideologues do not preach moderation in any meaningful sense. They simply object to the Islamic State’s way of going about its business.

Baghdadi and his followers believe that all other jihadists, indeed all Muslims, owe their loyalty to the “caliphate.” Al Qaeda and its various branches around the globe disagree. They don’t believe that Baghdadi is really “Caliph Ibrahim” and they are not about to answer to him. Al Qaeda’s senior leaders and their comrades also believe that the Islamic State’s approach to using violence, including the savage spectacle it makes of killing, turns off more prospective followers than it gains. And, al Qaeda argues, by overtly declaring his men rule over an Islamic emirate (nation), Baghdadi has charted a course that attracts more attention from the West than the jihadists can withstand. Moreover, Baghdadi declared himself to be the Caliph without first building the proper consensus among his fellow jihadists. This is a big no-no for those caliphate builders who believe in a longer-term approach.

Baghdadi and the Islamic State don’t care about al Qaeda’s criticisms and just go about doing what they do best: maiming and killing.

Their disagreements have, of course, sparked an intense animosity between the Islamic State and al Qaeda, with Baghdadi’s crew trying to poach al Qaeda members and supporters from the globe. The Islamic State has had some success in this regard, but most of the A-list jihadists remain in al Qaeda’s camp.

Still, as the Islamic State has attempted to cut into al Qaeda’s market share, al Qaeda has leaned heavily on several prominent jihadist thinkers to undermine the theological legitimacy of the self-declared “caliphate.” And one of them is Maqdisi.

Meeting with Italian defense officials in Rome Monday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey said that the threat to the world from Islamic terrorism is "probably a 30-year issue." The Army News Service

French authorities have reportedly indentified the three suspects in today’s massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices—Hamyd Mourad, whose nationality has not yet been identified, and two French nationals, Said Kouachi and his younger brother Cherif Kouachi.

Recently, some media commentators have argued that, rather than the product of a simple confrontation between Sunni and Shia Muslims in Syria and Iraq, the rise of the so-called “Islamic State” should be perceived as an eruption into those countries of Wahhabism, the only interpretation of Islam recognized as official in Saudi Arabia.

CNN host Brian Stelter told terror-supporting cleric Anjem Choudary that he "respect[s] that you try to get your message out however you can." He made the comments after Choudary said sharia was coming to America:

Stelter made the comments after Choudary said, "I believe that the sharia is the best way of life. I believe one day it will come to America and the rest of the world."

The president is appalled. Indeed he said this afternoon that "the entire world is appalled by the brutal murder of Jim Foley by the terrorist group, ISIL." The act of violence that killed Jim Foley, the president continued, "shocks the conscience of the entire world."

Comforting as it is to speak of the world in the language of policy and politics, strategy and tactics, there is this other element. This chord of madness that stirs the enemy as, for instance when, as Reuters reports:

In nearly all the Arab revolutions in North Africa and the jihadist offensives that followed them, incursions against Sufi shrines have preceded the onset of wide-scale radical aggression. As they initiate their invasive strategies, terrorists linked to al Qaeda and inspired by Saudi-financed Wahhabism (alias “Salafism”) start by targeting the spiritual Sufis and their ancient tombs and monuments for murder and destruction. This devastation has several motives.